Over snow by winter sown

Last night I ended up walking home from class.  Some of you might sneer at my idea of winter weather, and I get that I don't live in Minnesota, but it. is. cold. here right now.  The actual temperature last night was twelve degrees Fahrenheit, with northwestern winds blowing in gusts of up to twenty-eight miles per hour.  But, the fastest way home was to walk, so I did.  I buttoned up my coat, hoped my wool socks inside my running shoes would keep my feet warm, and pulled my faux-furry hat down low over my forehead and ears.  Then I started off, down the icy hills of Georgetown and across the Key Bridge.  Half-way across Key Bridge I thought, "Perhaps this was a silly idea."  The path was covered with slippery, mushy snow, I could really feel the gusty wind while suspended above the river (at one point I thought, "Don't let it blow you off course!"), and my eyes physically hurt from the cold.  My running shoes were too thin, but at least they have good traction.  Today, too, though the sun is out, the mile I walked between our new apartment and my old felt like it went on forever.  My legs burned with cold, my cheeks stung, and as I huffed up the hill I could scarcely breathe deeply enough.  I longed for a cup of hot tea.

The point is, the only way I'm coping with having to walk outside so much in this bitter winter weather is by thinking of it as prep work for a great quest that I'm bound to embark upon someday. Hero(in(e))s always end up having to walk through near-lethally cold conditions at some point in the quest. I mean, the mines of Moria may be compromised, forcing me to go over the mountain, or maybe I'll have to escape from the Skaldi. Then these miles I'm walking through the city won't seem so bad at all.